Smart or Strange, Casting Makes a Big Difference

Sometimes even the smallest thing can throw off a soap opera. For example:

Consider the miscasting of the central role of Billy Abbott on The Young and the Restless. He’s the bad boy who lost his daughter Delia to a drunk driver and who may or may not have impregnated his estranged wife Victoria.Powerhouse Billy Miller had been playing the role, but when he left the show mistakenly miscast the role with David Tom, who had played Billy as a young man. Tom seemed too young to play the grown-up Billy. Worse, Tom made him a whiner.

Happily, Y&R corrected its mistake with one of the best recasts of the soap year: primetime actor Burgess Jenkins.Jenkins is the right age for the role and looks like his Abbottbrother Jack, as played by Peter Bergman. Moreover, he makes a good leading man for Chelsea (Melissa Claire Egan) with whom he has become involved.Their sex scenes have been sizzling. Cheers to Y&R for such a successful recast.

Look-alikes on The Bold and the Beautiful

Nothing good can ever come of confusing your audience. But that’s just what has happened on The Bold and the Beautiful where two actresses who could pass for look-alike twins have been cast recently as unrelated characters who aren’t necessarily supposed to look alike.

What? Well, there they are. One of them is Ashleigh Brewer, who plays new Forrester jewelry designer Ivy, a cousin of the show’s main family.The other, who plays Alyson, a young woman assistant in the Spencer organization, is the real-life Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark, an actual member of European royalty.

Given B&B ’s vast international audience, casting a real princess known to viewers on the Continent probably is a cool move. But why do Ashleigh and Alyson appear to be twins? Is there a nifty plot twist in the offing? Or did B&B just screw up? If the latter is the case, neither the worthy young actresses nor the viewers are being well served.

Good Chemistry on General Hospital

In the 80s they were celebrated as supercouples – lovers played by actors who had such powerful chemistry, their popularity was unshakable no matter how many times they split up and reconciled.

General Hospital has such a supercouple right now in Sam Morgan (Kelly Monaco) and Silas Clay (Michael Easton), veterans both.So potent is their chemistry that it is portable: Eason and Monaco have played against each other on Port Charles in the past, he was Caleb and she was Livvie.They really demonstrated that chemistry last week in a tear-laden break-up scene. Seems the love of Silas and Sam may not be strong enough to survive the interference of Nina Clay, played by the forceful and sensational Michelle Stafford.

Boo hooBut does anyone really believe these two magnetic and highly bankable sizzlers are finished with each other? Surely GH will invent yet another pairing for them.

Comments

Unfortunately, I think the Silas/Sam breakup mess is emblematic of what’s been so wrong for this show the past six months (has a show ever gone from good to awful so quickly?) Plot, instead of character based writing and characters written in simply as mustache twirling villains with no sense of reality.

I have to disagree on the recasting of Billy Abbott. I think David Tom had a lot more chemistry with Chelsea. They should have given him more time to get into the role. I think the new Billy (Burgess Jenkins) looks older than Peter Bergman. I don’t think he has any chemistry with anyone. But, what does it matter, I have found myself fastforwarding through more and more of Y&R.
Also, Sam and Silas a super couple. No way.

Who exactly are these people.I like ME and KM,do I like Sam , and Silas,no. TIIC of this show have dumbed down every vet on the show The newbies have taken over and who cares.Ann has turned into the dumbest police commissioner ever,,Tracy does not know the guy she is sleeping with and covering for Olivia with Sonny ? .Alexis ‘s new mob boyfriend almost got her whole family blown up.She never learns. MAxie just no !The mysengyny is running rampent again.IS guza back the woman on this show are just stupid not another word for it.

I also have to disagree about the Sam/Silas pairing. When Michael Easton first appeared on GH as John McBain, he and Kelly Monaco had chemistry off the charts. The whole situation with Sam dealing with the fact that her baby might have been Franco’s, and Jason pulling away from her, which led to her turning to John McBain was brilliantly written and played. Silas on the other hand has been a drip from day one, and the writers blew any chance of developing the character by not playing him more with Kiki and Rafe. Even the Ava/Silas story line never worked, because Silas was so clearly disgusted with Ava. We never once saw what drew the two of them together. Was it lust or love? The show took forever to reveal to both Sam and the audience that Silas was married during that whole affair. It would have been better if the show had brought Easton back as Caleb and not Silas. Build in story right there. Caleb dealing with the son that Alison had kept from him, Sam looking like his lost love Livie. Instead, we had a boring mystery of whether or not Silas tried to kill Nina. Right now, Sam has more sparks with Patrick then she’s ever had with Silas.

I have to agree with the other posters…Sam & Silas are not a supercouple! Sam & Michael McBain were definitely supercouple material, but the Silas character we have now is unbearable. And he’s been made even worse with the introduction of Nina. I love Michelle Stafford, but I hate Nina. She has no redeeming qualities so she’s not even “love to hate” material.
I would love to see Sam with Patrick, with whom she has tons of chemistry. But with him knowing that Jason is alive, I don’t see Patrick allowing himself to go there, at least not without telling Sam the “truth.” Ugh, why did that whole shitty exit story for Robin ever have to come about? Why couldn’t they have left Jason dead? The only hope I have is that Robin wasn’t able to save Jason’s sorry ass.
I think I’ll like Burgess Jenkins as Billy, but I’m still warming up to him. I liked him on Army Wives, so that’s why I’m giving him a chance. It does take a while for an actor to really get into a character and make it his/her own.

I agree with Sondra…such a shame Y&R got rid of David Tom. New actor does seem older to be Billy. Also, I never really understood the hype for Billy Miller, he was okay but the way people go on about him surprises me.